Asymmetrical Information

From the desk of Mindles H. Dreck:

Only in the U.S.

I've had an interesting morning. One of the standout players on the under-10 soccer team I coach is an Egyptian boy named Mohammed who goes to an islamic school. I drove him to and from the game today. My son and two hispanic kids (Juan and Umberto) were in the car as well. The other kids began to tease Mohammed about being from Egypt and asked him if he knew Osama bin Laden. While I was getting them to back off, Mohammed launched into a defense of bin Laden (he's a devout muslim, no proof he did it, etc.). The other kids were looking for an authority figure to proclaim bin Laden bad - namely me. I said I believed there was proof, but even if there wasn't, didn't bin Laden praise the men who attacked the World Trade Center? How could a good man do that?

Biting my tongue a little, I asked Mohammed to explain himself a little more, and talk about the teachings of Islam (face it, the Osama argument wasn't going to get us anywhere). He did a pretty good job, illustrating his points with stories from the Koran. He quickly gravitated to the subject of his own country. Mohammed's family is rabidly anti-Israel and anti-Mubarak. His heart seemed to be much more in these arguments. I probed him a little, asking about The Yom Kippur wars, etc. The kid turns out to be pretty knowledgeable. He also has nothing but venom for Anwar Sadat. How many ten year olds hate assassinated political leaders of 30 years ago? I finally prompt him to say that what he and his family want more than anything is a new democratic regime in Egypt. I point out that Osama bin Laden and the Taliban want anything but democracy. It seems Mohammed's hope is that one of these terrorists will finally provoke a revolution that changes things for the better in Egypt and other Arab countries. By any means necessary, I suppose.

In most any other country we would not be in the car together. Mohammed and his family are probably regarded with suspicion wherever they go. But he's here in my car and he feels safe expressing himself to a near stranger. I really like this bright-eyed, knowledgeable, articulate kid, who runs his butt off on the soccer field. I hope his ability to learn and think leads him to consider the terrorism question from a different angle.

Richard Todd says our diversity can keep us from feeling a sense of belonging. But I sure feel like I belong in the culture that threw Mohammed, Juan and Roberto together with me and my son for that car ride.

Posted by Mindles H. Dreck at October 28, 2001 03:11 PM | Technorati inbound links